Previously, I've explored the beneficial effects of flaxseeds on prostate cancer (Flaxseeds vs. Prostate Cancer), as well as breast cancer prevention and survival (Flaxseeds & Breast Cancer Prevention and Breast Cancer Survival & Lignan Intake). The cancer-fighting effect of flaxseeds is thought to be because of the lignans, which are cancer-fighting plant compounds found in red wine, whole grains, greens (cruciferous vegetables), and especially sesame seeds and flaxseeds, the most concentrated source on Earth. But this is based on per unit weight. People eat a lot more grains than seeds. Of the grains people eat, the highest concentration of lignans is found in rye. So, can rye intake decrease the risk of cancer? Theoretically yes, but unlike flaxseeds, it's never been directly put to the test... until now.

In my video Does Rye Bread Protect Against Cancer?, I discuss the evidence that does exist. If you measure the levels of lignans in the bloodstream of women living in a region where they eat lots of rye, the odds of breast cancer in women with the highest levels do seem to be just half that of women with the lowest levels. But lignans are also found in tea and berries, so we couldn't be sure where the protection is coming from. To get around this, researchers decided to measure alkylresorcinol metabolites, a class of phytonutrients relatively unique to whole grains.

Researchers collected urine from women with breast cancer and women without, and the women with breast cancer had significantly lower levels compared to those without. This suggests that women at risk for breast cancer consume significantly lower amounts of whole grains like rye. But if we follow older women in their 50s through 60s, the intake of whole grain products was not associated with risk of breast cancer. A similar result was found in older men for prostate cancer. Is it just too late at that point?

We know from data on dairy that diet in our early life may be important in the development of prostate cancer, particularly around puberty when the prostate grows and matures. If you look at what men were drinking in adolescence, daily milk consumption appeared to triple their risk of advanced prostate cancer later in life. (Learn more about milk and prostate cancer in my video Prostate Cancer and Organic Milk vs. Almond Milk.) So, researchers looked at daily rye bread consumption during adolescence.

Those who consumed rye bread daily as kids did appear to only have half the odds of advanced prostate cancer. This is consistent with immigrant studies suggesting that the first two decades of life may be most important for setting the pattern for cancer development in later life. These findings are certainly important for how we should feed our kids, but if we're already middle-aged, is it too late to change course? To answer this question, researchers in Sweden put it to the test.

Researchers took men with prostate cancer and split them into two groups. One group got lots of rye bread, while the other got lots of high-fiber, but low-lignan, wheat bread. There's been some indirect evidence that rye may be active against prostate cancer--like lower cancer rates in regions with high rye consumption--but it had never been directly investigated... until this study. Biopsies were taken from the subjects' tumors before and after three weeks of bread eating, and the number of cancer cells that were dying off were counted. Though there was no change in the cancer cell clearance of the control bread group, there was a 180% increase in the number of cancer cells being killed off in the rye group. A follow-up study lasting 6 weeks found a 14% decrease in PSA levels, a cancer marker suggesting a shrinkage of the tumor.

The researchers note they used very high rye bread intakes, and it remains to be tested if more normal intake levels would have effects that are of clinical importance. As a sadly typical American, my lack of intimate familiarity of the metric system did not flag the "485 grams" of rye bread a day as far out of the ordinary, but that translates to 15 slices! Rather than eating a loaf a day, the same amount of lignans can be found in a single teaspoon of ground flaxseeds.

Previously, I've explored the beneficial effects of flaxseeds on prostate cancer (Flaxseeds vs. Prostate Cancer), as well as breast cancer prevention and survival (Flaxseeds & Breast Cancer Prevention and Breast Cancer Survival & Lignan Intake). The cancer-fighting effect of flaxseeds is thought to be because of the lignans, which are cancer-fighting plant compounds found in red wine, whole grains, greens (cruciferous vegetables), and especially sesame seeds and flaxseeds, the most concentrated source on Earth. But this is based on per unit weight. People eat a lot more grains than seeds. Of the grains people eat, the highest concentration of lignans is found in rye. So, can rye intake decrease the risk of cancer? Theoretically yes, but unlike flaxseeds, it's never been directly put to the test... until now.

In my video Does Rye Bread Protect Against Cancer?, I discuss the evidence that does exist. If you measure the levels of lignans in the bloodstream of women living in a region where they eat lots of rye, the odds of breast cancer in women with the highest levels do seem to be just half that of women with the lowest levels. But lignans are also found in tea and berries, so we couldn't be sure where the protection is coming from. To get around this, researchers decided to measure alkylresorcinol metabolites, a class of phytonutrients relatively unique to whole grains.

Researchers collected urine from women with breast cancer and women without, and the women with breast cancer had significantly lower levels compared to those without. This suggests that women at risk for breast cancer consume significantly lower amounts of whole grains like rye. But if we follow older women in their 50s through 60s, the intake of whole grain products was not associated with risk of breast cancer. A similar result was found in older men for prostate cancer. Is it just too late at that point?

We know from data on dairy that diet in our early life may be important in the development of prostate cancer, particularly around puberty when the prostate grows and matures. If you look at what men were drinking in adolescence, daily milk consumption appeared to triple their risk of advanced prostate cancer later in life. (Learn more about milk and prostate cancer in my video Prostate Cancer and Organic Milk vs. Almond Milk.) So, researchers looked at daily rye bread consumption during adolescence.

Those who consumed rye bread daily as kids did appear to only have half the odds of advanced prostate cancer. This is consistent with immigrant studies suggesting that the first two decades of life may be most important for setting the pattern for cancer development in later life. These findings are certainly important for how we should feed our kids, but if we're already middle-aged, is it too late to change course? To answer this question, researchers in Sweden put it to the test.

Researchers took men with prostate cancer and split them into two groups. One group got lots of rye bread, while the other got lots of high-fiber, but low-lignan, wheat bread. There's been some indirect evidence that rye may be active against prostate cancer--like lower cancer rates in regions with high rye consumption--but it had never been directly investigated... until this study. Biopsies were taken from the subjects' tumors before and after three weeks of bread eating, and the number of cancer cells that were dying off were counted. Though there was no change in the cancer cell clearance of the control bread group, there was a 180% increase in the number of cancer cells being killed off in the rye group. A follow-up study lasting 6 weeks found a 14% decrease in PSA levels, a cancer marker suggesting a shrinkage of the tumor.

The researchers note they used very high rye bread intakes, and it remains to be tested if more normal intake levels would have effects that are of clinical importance. As a sadly typical American, my lack of intimate familiarity of the metric system did not flag the "485 grams" of rye bread a day as far out of the ordinary, but that translates to 15 slices! Rather than eating a loaf a day, the same amount of lignans can be found in a single teaspoon of ground flaxseeds.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic, episodic intestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain and altered bowel habits. It affects 1 in 7 Americans, although most go undiagnosed. IBS can have a substantial impact on well-being and health, but doctors underestimate the impact the disease can have, particularly the pain and discomfort. Using some measures, the health-related quality of life of irritable bowel sufferers can rival that of sufferers of much more serious disorders, such as diabetes, kidney failure, and inflammatory bowel diseases. The first step toward successful treatment is for doctors to acknowledge the condition and not just dismiss the patient as just hysterical or something.

Another reason sufferers often don't seek medical care may be the lack of effectiveness of the available treatments. There is a huge unmet therapeutic need. Since IBS has no cure, treatment is targeted to alleviate the symptoms. Typical antispasmodic drugs can cause side effects, including dry mouth, dizziness, blurred vision, confusion, and fall risk. New drugs now on the market, like Lubiprostone and Linaclotide, can cost up to $3,000 a year and can cause as side effects many of symptoms we're trying to treat.

Antidepressants are commonly given but may take weeks or even months to start helping. Prozac or Celexa take 4 to 6 weeks to help, and Paxil can take up to 12 weeks. They also have their own array of side effects, including sexual dysfunction in over 70% of the people who take these drugs.

There's got to be a better way.

Acupuncture works, but not better than placebo. Placebo acupuncture? That's where you poke people with a fake needle away from any known acupuncture points. Yet that worked just as well as real acupuncture, showing the power of the placebo effect.

I've talked about the ethics of so many doctors who effectively pass off sugar pills as effective drugs, arguing that the ends justify their means. There's actually a way to harness the placebo effect without lying to patients, though. We tell them it's a sugar pill. Patients with irritable bowel syndrome were randomized to either get nothing or a prescription medicine bottle of placebo pills with a label clearly marked "placebo pills" "take 2 pills twice daily." I kid you not.

Lo and behold, it worked! That's how powerful the placebo effect can be for irritable bowel. They conclude that for some disorders it may be appropriate for clinicians to recommend that patients try an inexpensive and safe placebo. Indeed, sugar pills probably won't cost $3,000 a year. But is there a safe alternative that actually works?

As you can see in my video, Peppermint Oil for Irritable Bowel Syndrome, nine randomized placebo-controlled studies have indeed found peppermint oil to be a safe and effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. A few adverse events were reported, but were mild and transient in nature, such as a peppermint taste, peppermint smell, and a cooling sensation around one's bottom on the way out. In contrast, in some of the head-to-head peppermint versus drug studies, some of the drug side effects were so unbearable that patients had to drop out of the study. This suggests it might be a reasonable approach for clinicians to treat IBS patients with peppermint oil as a first-line therapy, before trying anything else.

The longest trial only lasted 12 weeks, so we don't yet know about long-term efficacy. The benefits may last at least a month after stopping, though, perhaps due to lasting changes in our gut flora.

The studies used peppermint oil capsules so researchers could match them with placebo pills. What about peppermint tea? It's never been tested, but one might assume it wouldn't be concentrated enough. However, a quarter cup of fresh peppermint leaves has as much peppermint oil as some of the capsule doses used in the studies. One could easily blend it into a smoothie or with frozen berries to make something like my pink juice recipe. You can grow mint right on your window sill.

We doctors need effective treatments that "are cheap, safe, and readily available. This is particularly relevant at the present time as newer and more expensive drugs have either failed to show efficacy or been withdrawn from the market owing to concerns about serious adverse events." Just like it may be a good idea to only eat foods with ingredients you can pronounce, it may be better to try some mint before novel pharmacological approaches, such the new dual mu-opioid agonist delta-antagonist drug with a name like JNJ-27018966.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic, episodic intestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain and altered bowel habits. It affects 1 in 7 Americans, although most go undiagnosed. IBS can have a substantial impact on well-being and health, but doctors underestimate the impact the disease can have, particularly the pain and discomfort. Using some measures, the health-related quality of life of irritable bowel sufferers can rival that of sufferers of much more serious disorders, such as diabetes, kidney failure, and inflammatory bowel diseases. The first step toward successful treatment is for doctors to acknowledge the condition and not just dismiss the patient as just hysterical or something.

Another reason sufferers often don't seek medical care may be the lack of effectiveness of the available treatments. There is a huge unmet therapeutic need. Since IBS has no cure, treatment is targeted to alleviate the symptoms. Typical antispasmodic drugs can cause side effects, including dry mouth, dizziness, blurred vision, confusion, and fall risk. New drugs now on the market, like Lubiprostone and Linaclotide, can cost up to $3,000 a year and can cause as side effects many of symptoms we're trying to treat.

Antidepressants are commonly given but may take weeks or even months to start helping. Prozac or Celexa take 4 to 6 weeks to help, and Paxil can take up to 12 weeks. They also have their own array of side effects, including sexual dysfunction in over 70% of the people who take these drugs.

There's got to be a better way.

Acupuncture works, but not better than placebo. Placebo acupuncture? That's where you poke people with a fake needle away from any known acupuncture points. Yet that worked just as well as real acupuncture, showing the power of the placebo effect.

I've talked about the ethics of so many doctors who effectively pass off sugar pills as effective drugs, arguing that the ends justify their means. There's actually a way to harness the placebo effect without lying to patients, though. We tell them it's a sugar pill. Patients with irritable bowel syndrome were randomized to either get nothing or a prescription medicine bottle of placebo pills with a label clearly marked "placebo pills" "take 2 pills twice daily." I kid you not.

Lo and behold, it worked! That's how powerful the placebo effect can be for irritable bowel. They conclude that for some disorders it may be appropriate for clinicians to recommend that patients try an inexpensive and safe placebo. Indeed, sugar pills probably won't cost $3,000 a year. But is there a safe alternative that actually works?

As you can see in my video, Peppermint Oil for Irritable Bowel Syndrome, nine randomized placebo-controlled studies have indeed found peppermint oil to be a safe and effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. A few adverse events were reported, but were mild and transient in nature, such as a peppermint taste, peppermint smell, and a cooling sensation around one's bottom on the way out. In contrast, in some of the head-to-head peppermint versus drug studies, some of the drug side effects were so unbearable that patients had to drop out of the study. This suggests it might be a reasonable approach for clinicians to treat IBS patients with peppermint oil as a first-line therapy, before trying anything else.

The longest trial only lasted 12 weeks, so we don't yet know about long-term efficacy. The benefits may last at least a month after stopping, though, perhaps due to lasting changes in our gut flora.

The studies used peppermint oil capsules so researchers could match them with placebo pills. What about peppermint tea? It's never been tested, but one might assume it wouldn't be concentrated enough. However, a quarter cup of fresh peppermint leaves has as much peppermint oil as some of the capsule doses used in the studies. One could easily blend it into a smoothie or with frozen berries to make something like my pink juice recipe. You can grow mint right on your window sill.

We doctors need effective treatments that "are cheap, safe, and readily available. This is particularly relevant at the present time as newer and more expensive drugs have either failed to show efficacy or been withdrawn from the market owing to concerns about serious adverse events." Just like it may be a good idea to only eat foods with ingredients you can pronounce, it may be better to try some mint before novel pharmacological approaches, such the new dual mu-opioid agonist delta-antagonist drug with a name like JNJ-27018966.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic, episodic intestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain and altered bowel habits. It affects 1 in 7 Americans, although most go undiagnosed. IBS can have a substantial impact on well-being and health, but doctors underestimate the impact the disease can have, particularly the pain and discomfort. Using some measures, the health-related quality of life of irritable bowel sufferers can rival that of sufferers of much more serious disorders, such as diabetes, kidney failure, and inflammatory bowel diseases. The first step toward successful treatment is for doctors to acknowledge the condition and not just dismiss the patient as just hysterical or something.

Another reason sufferers often don't seek medical care may be the lack of effectiveness of the available treatments. There is a huge unmet therapeutic need. Since IBS has no cure, treatment is targeted to alleviate the symptoms. Typical antispasmodic drugs can cause side effects, including dry mouth, dizziness, blurred vision, confusion, and fall risk. New drugs now on the market, like Lubiprostone and Linaclotide, can cost up to $3,000 a year and can cause as side effects many of symptoms we're trying to treat.

Antidepressants are commonly given but may take weeks or even months to start helping. Prozac or Celexa take 4 to 6 weeks to help, and Paxil can take up to 12 weeks. They also have their own array of side effects, including sexual dysfunction in over 70% of the people who take these drugs.

There's got to be a better way.

Acupuncture works, but not better than placebo. Placebo acupuncture? That's where you poke people with a fake needle away from any known acupuncture points. Yet that worked just as well as real acupuncture, showing the power of the placebo effect.

I've talked about the ethics of so many doctors who effectively pass off sugar pills as effective drugs, arguing that the ends justify their means. There's actually a way to harness the placebo effect without lying to patients, though. We tell them it's a sugar pill. Patients with irritable bowel syndrome were randomized to either get nothing or a prescription medicine bottle of placebo pills with a label clearly marked "placebo pills" "take 2 pills twice daily." I kid you not.

Lo and behold, it worked! That's how powerful the placebo effect can be for irritable bowel. They conclude that for some disorders it may be appropriate for clinicians to recommend that patients try an inexpensive and safe placebo. Indeed, sugar pills probably won't cost $3,000 a year. But is there a safe alternative that actually works?

As you can see in my video, Peppermint Oil for Irritable Bowel Syndrome, nine randomized placebo-controlled studies have indeed found peppermint oil to be a safe and effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. A few adverse events were reported, but were mild and transient in nature, such as a peppermint taste, peppermint smell, and a cooling sensation around one's bottom on the way out. In contrast, in some of the head-to-head peppermint versus drug studies, some of the drug side effects were so unbearable that patients had to drop out of the study. This suggests it might be a reasonable approach for clinicians to treat IBS patients with peppermint oil as a first-line therapy, before trying anything else.

The longest trial only lasted 12 weeks, so we don't yet know about long-term efficacy. The benefits may last at least a month after stopping, though, perhaps due to lasting changes in our gut flora.

The studies used peppermint oil capsules so researchers could match them with placebo pills. What about peppermint tea? It's never been tested, but one might assume it wouldn't be concentrated enough. However, a quarter cup of fresh peppermint leaves has as much peppermint oil as some of the capsule doses used in the studies. One could easily blend it into a smoothie or with frozen berries to make something like my pink juice recipe. You can grow mint right on your window sill.

We doctors need effective treatments that "are cheap, safe, and readily available. This is particularly relevant at the present time as newer and more expensive drugs have either failed to show efficacy or been withdrawn from the market owing to concerns about serious adverse events." Just like it may be a good idea to only eat foods with ingredients you can pronounce, it may be better to try some mint before novel pharmacological approaches, such the new dual mu-opioid agonist delta-antagonist drug with a name like JNJ-27018966.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most common disorders of the digestive tract. The two most typical symptoms are heartburn and regurgitation of stomach contents into the back of the throat, but GERD is not just burning pain and a sour taste in your mouth. It causes millions of doctor visits and hospitalizations every year in the United States. The most feared complication is cancer.

You start out with a normal esophagus. If the acid keeps creeping up, your esophagus can get inflamed and result in esophagitis. Esophagitis can transform into Barrett's esophagus, a precancerous condition which can then turn into adenocarcinoma (a type of cancer). To prevent all that, we need to prevent the acid reflux in the first place.

In the last three decades, the incidence of this cancer in the US has increased six-fold, an increase greater than that of melanoma, breast, or prostate cancer. This is because acid reflux is on the rise. In the United States, we're up to about 1 in 4 people suffering at least weekly heartburn and/or acid regurgitation, compared to around 5% in Asia. This suggests that dietary factors may play a role.

In general, high fat intake is associated with increased risk, whereas high fiber foods appear to be protective. The reason fat intake may be associated with GERD symptoms and erosive esophagitis is because when we eat fatty foods, the sphincter at the top of the stomach that's supposed to keep the food down becomes relaxed, so more acid can creep up into the esophagus. In my video Diet & GERD Acid Reflux Heartburn, you can see a study in which researchers fed volunteers a high-fat meal--a McDonald's sausage and egg McMuffin--compared to a low-fat meal (McDonald's hot cakes), and there was significantly more acid squirted up in the esophagus after the high-fat meal.

In terms of later stages of disease progression, over the last twenty years 45 studies have been published in the association between diet and Barrett's esophagus and esophageal cancer. In general, they found that meat and high-fat meals appeared to increase cancer risk. Different meats were associated with cancers in different locations, thoughj. Red meat was more associated with cancer in the esophagus, whereas poultry was more associated with cancer at the top of the stomach. Plant-based sources of protein, such as beans and nuts, were associated with a significantly decreased risk of cancer.

Those eating the most antioxidant-rich foods have half the odds of esophageal cancer, while there is practically no reduction in risk among those who used antioxidant vitamin supplements, such as vitamin C or E pills. The most protective produce may be red-orange vegetables, dark green leafies, berries, apples, and citrus. The benefit may come from more than just eating plants. Eating healthy foods crowds out less healthy foods, so it may be a combination of both.

Based on a study of 3,000 people, the consumption of non-vegetarian foods (including eggs) was an independent predictor of GERD. Egg yolks cause an increase in the hormone cholecystokinin, which may overly relax the sphincter that separates the esophagus from the stomach. The same hormone is increased by meat, which may help explain why plant-based diets appear to be a protective factor for reflux esophagitis.

Researchers found that those eating meat had twice the odds of reflux-induced esophageal inflammation. Therefore, plant-based diets may offer protection, though it's uncertain whether it's attributable to the absence of meat in the diet or the increased consumption of healthy foods. Those eating vegetarian consume greater amounts of fruits and vegetables containing innumerable phytochemicals, dietary fiber, and antioxidants. They also restrict their consumption of animal sources of food, which tend to be fattier and can thus relax that sphincter and aggravate reflux.

GERD is common; its burdens are enormous. It relapses frequently and can cause bleeding, strictures, and a deadly cancer. The mainstay of treatment is proton pump inhibitor drugs, which rake in billions of dollars. We spend four billion dollars on Nexium alone, three billion on Prevacid, two billion on Protonix, one billion on Aciphex. These drugs can cause nutrient deficiencies and increase the risk for pneumonia, food poisoning, and bone fractures. Thus, it is important to find correctable risk factors and correct them. Known correctable risk factors have been things like obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption. Until recently, though, there hadn't been studies on specifically what to eat and what to avoid, but now we have other correctable factors to help prevent this disease.

I also have a video about esophageal cancer, detailing the extraordinary reversal of the kinds of precancerous changes that lead to the devastating condition--with nothing but strawberries: Strawberries versus Esophageal Cancer.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most common disorders of the digestive tract. The two most typical symptoms are heartburn and regurgitation of stomach contents into the back of the throat, but GERD is not just burning pain and a sour taste in your mouth. It causes millions of doctor visits and hospitalizations every year in the United States. The most feared complication is cancer.

You start out with a normal esophagus. If the acid keeps creeping up, your esophagus can get inflamed and result in esophagitis. Esophagitis can transform into Barrett's esophagus, a precancerous condition which can then turn into adenocarcinoma (a type of cancer). To prevent all that, we need to prevent the acid reflux in the first place.

In the last three decades, the incidence of this cancer in the US has increased six-fold, an increase greater than that of melanoma, breast, or prostate cancer. This is because acid reflux is on the rise. In the United States, we're up to about 1 in 4 people suffering at least weekly heartburn and/or acid regurgitation, compared to around 5% in Asia. This suggests that dietary factors may play a role.

In general, high fat intake is associated with increased risk, whereas high fiber foods appear to be protective. The reason fat intake may be associated with GERD symptoms and erosive esophagitis is because when we eat fatty foods, the sphincter at the top of the stomach that's supposed to keep the food down becomes relaxed, so more acid can creep up into the esophagus. In my video Diet & GERD Acid Reflux Heartburn, you can see a study in which researchers fed volunteers a high-fat meal--a McDonald's sausage and egg McMuffin--compared to a low-fat meal (McDonald's hot cakes), and there was significantly more acid squirted up in the esophagus after the high-fat meal.

In terms of later stages of disease progression, over the last twenty years 45 studies have been published in the association between diet and Barrett's esophagus and esophageal cancer. In general, they found that meat and high-fat meals appeared to increase cancer risk. Different meats were associated with cancers in different locations, thoughj. Red meat was more associated with cancer in the esophagus, whereas poultry was more associated with cancer at the top of the stomach. Plant-based sources of protein, such as beans and nuts, were associated with a significantly decreased risk of cancer.

Those eating the most antioxidant-rich foods have half the odds of esophageal cancer, while there is practically no reduction in risk among those who used antioxidant vitamin supplements, such as vitamin C or E pills. The most protective produce may be red-orange vegetables, dark green leafies, berries, apples, and citrus. The benefit may come from more than just eating plants. Eating healthy foods crowds out less healthy foods, so it may be a combination of both.

Based on a study of 3,000 people, the consumption of non-vegetarian foods (including eggs) was an independent predictor of GERD. Egg yolks cause an increase in the hormone cholecystokinin, which may overly relax the sphincter that separates the esophagus from the stomach. The same hormone is increased by meat, which may help explain why plant-based diets appear to be a protective factor for reflux esophagitis.

Researchers found that those eating meat had twice the odds of reflux-induced esophageal inflammation. Therefore, plant-based diets may offer protection, though it's uncertain whether it's attributable to the absence of meat in the diet or the increased consumption of healthy foods. Those eating vegetarian consume greater amounts of fruits and vegetables containing innumerable phytochemicals, dietary fiber, and antioxidants. They also restrict their consumption of animal sources of food, which tend to be fattier and can thus relax that sphincter and aggravate reflux.

GERD is common; its burdens are enormous. It relapses frequently and can cause bleeding, strictures, and a deadly cancer. The mainstay of treatment is proton pump inhibitor drugs, which rake in billions of dollars. We spend four billion dollars on Nexium alone, three billion on Prevacid, two billion on Protonix, one billion on Aciphex. These drugs can cause nutrient deficiencies and increase the risk for pneumonia, food poisoning, and bone fractures. Thus, it is important to find correctable risk factors and correct them. Known correctable risk factors have been things like obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption. Until recently, though, there hadn't been studies on specifically what to eat and what to avoid, but now we have other correctable factors to help prevent this disease.

I also have a video about esophageal cancer, detailing the extraordinary reversal of the kinds of precancerous changes that lead to the devastating condition--with nothing but strawberries: Strawberries versus Esophageal Cancer.

High dietary fiber intake may help prevent strokes. The belief that dietary fiber intake is protectively associated with certain diseases was postulated 40 years ago and then enormously fueled and kept alive by a great body of science since. Today it is generally believed that eating lots of fiber-rich foods helps prevent obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases such as stroke.

The best observational studies to date found that fiber appears to significantly protect against the risk of stroke. Different strokes for different folks, depending, evidently, on how much fiber they ate. Notably, increasing fiber just seven grams a day was associated with a 7% reduction in stroke risk. And seven grams is easy, that's like a serving of whole grain pasta with tomato sauce and an apple.

What's the mechanism? Maybe it's that fiber helps lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Or it could just be that those eating more fiber are just eating more vegetables, or fewer calories, or less meat and fat, or improving digestion, all of which may slim us down and lower our blood pressure and the amount of inflammation in our bodies. Does it really matter, though? As Dr. Burkitt commented on the biblical passage, "A man scatters seed on the land--the seed sprouts and opens--how, he does not know," the farmer doesn't wait to find out. Had the farmer postponed his sowing until he understood seed germination, he would not have lasted very long. So yes, let's keep trying to figure out why fiber is protective, but in the meanwhile, we should be increasing our intake of fiber, which is to say increasing our intake of whole plant foods.

It's never too early to start eating healthier. Strokes are one of many complications of arterial stiffness. Though our first stroke might not happen until our 50's, our arteries may have been stiffening for decades leading up to it. Hundreds of kids were followed for 24 years, from age 13 in through 36 and researchers found that lower intake of fiber during a young age was associated with stiffening of the arteries leading up to the brain. Even by age 13, they could see differences in arterial stiffness depending on diet. Fiber intake is important at any age.

Again, it doesn't take much. One extra apple a day or an extra quarter cup of broccoli might translate into meaningful differences in arterial stiffness in adulthood. If you really don't want a stroke, we should try to get 25 grams a day of soluble fiber (found concentrated in beans, oats, nuts, and berries) and 47 grams a day of insoluble fiber (concentrated in whole grains). One would have to eat an extraordinarily healthy diet to get that much, yet these cut-off values could be considered as the minimum recommended daily intake of soluble and insoluble fiber to prevent stroke. The researchers admit these are higher than those commonly and arbitrarily proposed as "adequate" levels by scientific societies, but should we care about what authorities think is practical? They should just share the best scienceand let us make up our own minds.

Someone funded by Kellogg's wrote in to complain that in practice, such fiber intakes are "unachievable" and that the message should just be the more, the better--like maybe just have a bowl of cereal or something.

The real Dr. Kellogg was actually one of our most famous physicians, credited for being one of the first to sound the alarm about smoking, and who may have been the first American physician to have recognized the field of nutrition as a science. He would be rolling in his grave today if he knew what his family's company had become.

High dietary fiber intake may help prevent strokes. The belief that dietary fiber intake is protectively associated with certain diseases was postulated 40 years ago and then enormously fueled and kept alive by a great body of science since. Today it is generally believed that eating lots of fiber-rich foods helps prevent obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases such as stroke.

The best observational studies to date found that fiber appears to significantly protect against the risk of stroke. Different strokes for different folks, depending, evidently, on how much fiber they ate. Notably, increasing fiber just seven grams a day was associated with a 7% reduction in stroke risk. And seven grams is easy, that's like a serving of whole grain pasta with tomato sauce and an apple.

What's the mechanism? Maybe it's that fiber helps lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Or it could just be that those eating more fiber are just eating more vegetables, or fewer calories, or less meat and fat, or improving digestion, all of which may slim us down and lower our blood pressure and the amount of inflammation in our bodies. Does it really matter, though? As Dr. Burkitt commented on the biblical passage, "A man scatters seed on the land--the seed sprouts and opens--how, he does not know," the farmer doesn't wait to find out. Had the farmer postponed his sowing until he understood seed germination, he would not have lasted very long. So yes, let's keep trying to figure out why fiber is protective, but in the meanwhile, we should be increasing our intake of fiber, which is to say increasing our intake of whole plant foods.

It's never too early to start eating healthier. Strokes are one of many complications of arterial stiffness. Though our first stroke might not happen until our 50's, our arteries may have been stiffening for decades leading up to it. Hundreds of kids were followed for 24 years, from age 13 in through 36 and researchers found that lower intake of fiber during a young age was associated with stiffening of the arteries leading up to the brain. Even by age 13, they could see differences in arterial stiffness depending on diet. Fiber intake is important at any age.

Again, it doesn't take much. One extra apple a day or an extra quarter cup of broccoli might translate into meaningful differences in arterial stiffness in adulthood. If you really don't want a stroke, we should try to get 25 grams a day of soluble fiber (found concentrated in beans, oats, nuts, and berries) and 47 grams a day of insoluble fiber (concentrated in whole grains). One would have to eat an extraordinarily healthy diet to get that much, yet these cut-off values could be considered as the minimum recommended daily intake of soluble and insoluble fiber to prevent stroke. The researchers admit these are higher than those commonly and arbitrarily proposed as "adequate" levels by scientific societies, but should we care about what authorities think is practical? They should just share the best scienceand let us make up our own minds.

Someone funded by Kellogg's wrote in to complain that in practice, such fiber intakes are "unachievable" and that the message should just be the more, the better--like maybe just have a bowl of cereal or something.

The real Dr. Kellogg was actually one of our most famous physicians, credited for being one of the first to sound the alarm about smoking, and who may have been the first American physician to have recognized the field of nutrition as a science. He would be rolling in his grave today if he knew what his family's company had become.

High dietary fiber intake may help prevent strokes. The belief that dietary fiber intake is protectively associated with certain diseases was postulated 40 years ago and then enormously fueled and kept alive by a great body of science since. Today it is generally believed that eating lots of fiber-rich foods helps prevent obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases such as stroke.

The best observational studies to date found that fiber appears to significantly protect against the risk of stroke. Different strokes for different folks, depending, evidently, on how much fiber they ate. Notably, increasing fiber just seven grams a day was associated with a 7% reduction in stroke risk. And seven grams is easy, that's like a serving of whole grain pasta with tomato sauce and an apple.

What's the mechanism? Maybe it's that fiber helps lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Or it could just be that those eating more fiber are just eating more vegetables, or fewer calories, or less meat and fat, or improving digestion, all of which may slim us down and lower our blood pressure and the amount of inflammation in our bodies. Does it really matter, though? As Dr. Burkitt commented on the biblical passage, "A man scatters seed on the land--the seed sprouts and opens--how, he does not know," the farmer doesn't wait to find out. Had the farmer postponed his sowing until he understood seed germination, he would not have lasted very long. So yes, let's keep trying to figure out why fiber is protective, but in the meanwhile, we should be increasing our intake of fiber, which is to say increasing our intake of whole plant foods.

It's never too early to start eating healthier. Strokes are one of many complications of arterial stiffness. Though our first stroke might not happen until our 50's, our arteries may have been stiffening for decades leading up to it. Hundreds of kids were followed for 24 years, from age 13 in through 36 and researchers found that lower intake of fiber during a young age was associated with stiffening of the arteries leading up to the brain. Even by age 13, they could see differences in arterial stiffness depending on diet. Fiber intake is important at any age.

Again, it doesn't take much. One extra apple a day or an extra quarter cup of broccoli might translate into meaningful differences in arterial stiffness in adulthood. If you really don't want a stroke, we should try to get 25 grams a day of soluble fiber (found concentrated in beans, oats, nuts, and berries) and 47 grams a day of insoluble fiber (concentrated in whole grains). One would have to eat an extraordinarily healthy diet to get that much, yet these cut-off values could be considered as the minimum recommended daily intake of soluble and insoluble fiber to prevent stroke. The researchers admit these are higher than those commonly and arbitrarily proposed as "adequate" levels by scientific societies, but should we care about what authorities think is practical? They should just share the best scienceand let us make up our own minds.

Someone funded by Kellogg's wrote in to complain that in practice, such fiber intakes are "unachievable" and that the message should just be the more, the better--like maybe just have a bowl of cereal or something.

The real Dr. Kellogg was actually one of our most famous physicians, credited for being one of the first to sound the alarm about smoking, and who may have been the first American physician to have recognized the field of nutrition as a science. He would be rolling in his grave today if he knew what his family's company had become.